


A Photo Album of Loneliness

by Dreams_In_A_Witch_House



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Gen, Loneliness, Self Confidence, Self-Doubt, Self-Reflection, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 02:23:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17051270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreams_In_A_Witch_House/pseuds/Dreams_In_A_Witch_House
Summary: Upon studying for an exam, Akko reflects on how she feels about her time at Luna Nova and her parents.





	A Photo Album of Loneliness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ehmazing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ehmazing/gifts).



> Hi, ehmazing, this is for you! I focused on Akko primarily, I hope you don't mind. I read your letter and got this idea from the middle of your second prompt. Little Witch Academia is one of my favourite animes so I'm glad I got you as a giftee!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this gift!
> 
> *This takes place in episode 7, when Akko is studying for the White Magic exam*

“Sosomme Tidiare!”

The small clock on the table didn’t move. The hands were crooked on its face, the longer hand frozen between one and two, and the smaller hand frozen between eleven and twelve. There was no ticking.

“Sosomme Tidiare!”

The small clock still didn’t move. The hands were still crooked and the ticking was still nonexistent.

“Sosomme Tidiare!”

Nothing.

Akko flopped onto her bed, a loud sigh leaving her lips. Forty-seven tries and still nothing. She’d been trying to repair the clock Professor Ursula gave her to no avail. Tomorrow was her Basic White Magic exam and she still couldn’t get Restoration Magic down. She covered her face with her hands and sighed even louder. At this rate, she wasn’t going to pass this exam either.

She peeked through her fingers at the top bunk. Lotte and Sucy were hanging out with the others in the courtyard. She refused to go, instead trying, and failing, at studying for her exam. Rolling over, she stared at the far wall, where Sucy’s bed was.

Of course, Lotte and Sucy didn’t need to study as much as she had to. They both had skills in magic. Lotte had spirits and Sucy had potions. The more she thought about it, the more Akko realized that practically every other witch in the academy had a magical skill they were good at...except her. Amanda was amazing at flying, Constanze can create magnificent magi-mechanical equipment, and Jasminka was a whiz at Culinary Magic. And then there was Diana, who was skilled in every magical subject and the top of their class.

This was not how Akko imagined her life at Luna Nova would be like.

Ever since she was a child, she had been fascinated with magic. That fascination was brought out more when she saw one of Shiny Chariot’s performances. She closed her eyes and the performance played out as if she were a little girl again, watching the performance for the first time. Mesmerizing, bright, smiles, happiness. Those were the words that came to mind as the performance played out. She could even remember the words she told her parents as they were leaving.

_“I’m going to be just like Shiny Chariot! I’m going to bring smiles to everyone in the world!”_

Her parents had laughed, thinking it was just another childhood delusion. 

_“I’m sure you will be, Akko.”_

Little did her parents know at the time that that “childhood delusion” was more than just a childhood delusion. As she grew up, her fascination with magic grew with her until it was something she desperately wanted. The statement she made as a little girl became more than just a statement, becoming a dream she had to reach.  
She wanted to use magic, just like Shiny Chariot did before she disappeared, to bring smiles and happiness to people hearts. But right now, she was failing her exams and falling even more behind everyone else. She could barely even do the simplest forms of magic. Admittedly, she thought she would pick up magic quickly and perform fantastic feats. Instead she felt more discouraged as she went through each exam. Envy settled inside her as she watched other witches in her class pass exams with little to no effort. She desperately wanted to catch up and even started studying more. Still, she could feel herself sliding backwards as everyone else moved forwards.

Was this because she didn’t have a magical background like everyone else?

Akko sat up and turned towards her trunk, sitting in the corner by the bunk bed. As if it was calling out to her, she stood and dragged her trunk into the middle of the floor and plopped down in front of it. Unhooking the latches, she opened it, and started rifling through her clothes and possessions she brought from home. Finally, at the bottom of the trunk, she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the photo album she kept at the bottom. The album was purple with many stickers on the cover, some revolving around Shiny Chariot and magic, others were just random stickers she found cute. Opening it, Akko choked back a sob as she looked at the first two photos. They were of her as a little girl, wearing her Shiny Chariot hat, surrounded by her parents. In front of her was a birthday cake with “Happy Birthday Akko!” written on it. They were all smiling in the photo. The next photo was her, still a young girl, with her friends at the beach. They were running across the sand, wrapped up in a game of tag. She identified herself quickly, as she was the one in the middle of the photo, tripping, her hand outstretched and her mouth in the form of an “O”. Some of her friend’s behind her were smiling and laughing, pointing at her while the rest of her friends ahead of her was too focused on running away.

Flipping through the photos with tears running down her face, Akko was reminded of all her friends, family, her previous school, everything from her life before Luna Nova. All the photos reminded her of Japan.

_Home._

Ever since she first got to Luna Nova, she hadn’t really spoken much to her parents and she hadn’t gone back home during the break. It wasn’t that they weren’t on good terms. She loved her parents. They were the ones who allowed her to go to Luna Nova in the first place, after she begged them for weeks to let her enroll of course. 

She had started researching information about magic, hoping to find a way how to learn it. By that time, everyone including her parents and her classmates knew how much she wanted to be a witch and to learn magic with how much she talked about it. There were people who were dismissive of it, saying that there wasn’t much of a need for magic and witches since they had technology and machinery and that said magic was useless. Akko wouldn’t hear of it. She defended her dream to death, fighting with the ones who said her dream was silly. Sure technology made things easier but magic brought fantastical elements and out of the world experiences that technology wouldn’t be able to copy. 

During her research, she stumbled upon Luna Nova Academy. And she found her answer.

Luna Nova Academy was a famous school for magic and witches. They taught magic to girls her age and also had the golden ticket: they allowed witches who didn’t have any magical background. In other words, witches like Akko. At that point, she felt that she was moving closer to achieving her dream. She excitedly began reading more about Luna Nova and fantasizing about becoming a witch who made people smile, just like her idol. And that’s when she ran into her first problem. Luna Nova was in England, West England to be exact...and she lived in Japan. Just like that her excitement turned into shock and then worry. How would she be able to convince her parents to let her enroll in a school that was in an entirely different country? They would never agree especially her father.

She shook her head, a firm expression settling on her face. She would not let this hurdle stop her. She had to convince her parents to let her go. She just couldn’t give up on her dream so quickly. That wouldn’t be what Shiny Chariot would do. She would persevere and keep trying until she achieved her dream. And that would be the same thing Akko would do. She would come up with a convincing speech that would be so moving, her parents would agree.

The speech did not go well.

Thus began her begging her parents for weeks on end (or was it a year?) to allow her to attend. She got the same responses.

_“It’s too far.”_

_“You’re too young to be travelling so far from home.”_

_“You’re still attached to Shiny Chariot? She’s been missing for years, Akko. It’s time to let go.”_

_“Magic is not of much use these days.”_

The last two really got her angry. Magic was not useless, at least not to her. Also, just because Shiny Chariot was gone, didn’t mean that her love for all things magic had to disappear. She had told them about her dreams countless times, how she wanted to help people and make them happy.

After a while of her begging, her parents agreed, much to Akko’s surprise. She didn’t actually think they would say yes. They had explained that this was the most fired up they’ve seen her about something she wanted to do. They were also surprised at how much research she did about magic and Luna Nova and that it proved how much she wanted this. Of course, her father said she must do well in her studies and not cause any trouble at school. At that, she was overjoyed. She’d finally be learning magic and this was one step closer in the right direction.

Soon after, her parents paid the entrance fee and got her a flight to England. Despite being happy that she was chasing her dreams, she was sad that she had to leave her family, her friends, and her country for it. She cried for a few days leading up to her flight. There was so many goodbyes and “I’ll/We’ll miss yous” that she never wanted to hear those words again for a long time. She worried about her parents, who were now going to be alone without her there. They had each other yes, but there family was small, just a family of three. She had no siblings, someone to fill the Akko shaped void that she would be creating. For half of the flight to England, she was crying, feeling scared and alone. She believed that once she reached Luna Nova, she wouldn’t feel alone anymore.

Much to her dismay, the loneliness never left, even though she had Lotte and Sucy and the others. She wasn’t measuring up to Luna Nova’s standards. She was wasting her parent’s money. During the first few weeks at the academy, she made the decision that she wouldn’t go back home until she could do some decent magic. One of the rules of the academy was that they couldn’t use magic outside the school. The rule protected her from showing magic to her parents where they would inevitably find out she couldn’t do it properly. She didn't want them doubting her dream and their decision to allow her to go.

She stood up and placed her open album on her bed. The album was on the last page, where a single photo was stuck to the middle of the page. She remembered this photo. It was taken the night before her flight. She was on the floor in front of her suitcase in the process of packing it. Clothes and books both inside and outside her suitcase. Her mom was on the other side of the suitcase, helping her pack. Her dad was holding the camera in a selfie pose, his face in the corner of the frame. They were all smiling and laughing as if it wasn’t the night before Akko would leave. 

Fresh tears trailed down her face and she rubbed them away with her sleeve. She walked over to the desk where the broken clock was lying. She closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath and let it out. She will do this. She will pass and continue her studies. She will graduate and become a witch who brought smiles and happiness to people. 

_She will. She will become a great witch and make her parents proud. They will be the first ones that she’ll bring smiles and happiness to._

With her resolve set, Akko opened her eyes, fixing her determined gaze on the clock. For the forty-eighth time, she lifted her wand and shouted,

“Sosomme Tidiare!”


End file.
